Instagram Related Hashtag Stats Scraper

Instagram Related Hashtag Stats Scraper

Instagram Related Hashtag Stats Scraper is a purpose-built Apify actor that analyzes an input hashtag and returns structured Instagram hashtag statistics, including related hashtags grouped by frequency tiers, estimated posting velocity, and a heuristic difficulty score. It solves the common challenge of discovering high-performing, semantically related tags and understanding their relative competitiveness—at scale—for marketers, creators, analysts, and developers. With batch processing, proxy-aware requests, and clean JSON/CSV exports, it enables repeatable hashtag research workflows you can automate and integrate anywhere. 🚀

What data / output can you get?

Below are the exact fields the actor writes to the Apify dataset for each processed hashtag. Each field is derived from the main code and reflects the real output structure.

Data field	Description	Example value
name	Cleaned hashtag name without the leading #	"love"
id	Identifier used in output (same as name)	"love"
url	Canonical URL to the hashtag page	"https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/love"
postsCount	Total post count for the main hashtag (integer)	2147483647
posts	Formatted post count (K/M/B suffix)	"2.15 B"
postsPerDay	Rough estimate of daily posts (formatted)	"588.35 K"
difficulty	Heuristic difficulty tier based on postsCount	"very_high"
related	Top related hashtags (sorted), objects with hash and info	[{"hash":"#loveyourself","info":"129M posts"}, ...]
frequent	Related hashtags classified as frequent	[{"hash":"#loveyourself","info":"129M posts"}, ...]
average	Related hashtags classified as average	[{"hash":"#myloves","info":"8.2M posts"}, ...]
rare	Related hashtags classified as rare	[{"hash":"#nailslove","info":"5.7M posts"}, ...]
relatedFrequent	Mirror of frequent for convenience	[{"hash":"#loveyourself","info":"129M posts"}, ...]
relatedAverage	Mirror of average for convenience	[{"hash":"#myloves","info":"8.2M posts"}, ...]
relatedRare	Mirror of rare for convenience	[{"hash":"#nailslove","info":"5.7M posts"}, ...]
error	Present only if a hashtag fails to fetch; describes the error	"Failed to fetch data"

Notes:

• Arrays in related/frequent/average/rare contain objects of the form {"hash": "#tag", "info": "X posts"}.
• postsPerDay is a rough heuristic based on an assumed 10-year accumulation period.
• You can export the dataset to JSON or CSV directly from Apify.

Key features

• 🧭 Robust related hashtag discovery
  Extracts semantically co-occurring hashtags from Instagram’s top search results and groups them into frequent, average, and rare tiers for quick prioritization.

• 🧮 Difficulty & velocity heuristics
  Computes a readable posts string (e.g., “1.2 M”), a postsPerDay estimate, and a difficulty tier ("very_high" → "very_low") from total post counts to guide selection.

• 🧵 Clean input parsing (URL, #tag, or word)
  Accepts inputs like "love", "#love", or "https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/love/" and normalizes them into a clean hashtag automatically.

• 📦 Batch processing at scale
  Processes multiple hashtags in one run from urls_keywords, applying optional delays to avoid rate limits.

• 🛡️ Proxy-aware with automatic fallback
  Tries requests without a proxy, then datacenter, then residential (with retries). If residential works, it sticks to it for the remaining run for stability.

• ⏱️ Rate-limit control
  Use delay_between_requests to space requests and reduce the chance of throttling.

• 🔌 Apify-native output & automation
  Results are pushed to the Apify dataset with a stable schema, ready for programmatic access via API and export to JSON/CSV.

• 🧰 Resilient session & doc_id handling
  Automatically extracts required session tokens and GraphQL doc_id with multiple fallbacks, including a known working doc_id, to keep runs reliable.

How to use Instagram Related Hashtag Stats Scraper – step by step

1. 🔑 Sign in to Apify
   Create a free Apify account or log in.

2. 🧭 Open the actor
   Find “Instagram Related Hashtag Stats Scraper” in the Apify Store and open it.

3. 🧾 Provide input data
   In urls_keywords, add hashtags, hashtag URLs, or plain words (e.g., love, #fitness, or https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/travel/).

4. ⚙️ Configure options (optional)

   • delay_between_requests: Set a delay (seconds) between requests to reduce rate limiting.
   • proxy_configuration: Choose Apify Proxy settings if needed.

5. 🚀 Start the run
   Click Start. The actor will resolve session tokens, find a valid search doc_id, and fetch related hashtag data with proxy fallback if necessary.

6. 🔍 Monitor progress
   Watch the run log for status messages (e.g., proxy fallback steps). The actor processes hashtags one by one with optional delays.

7. 💾 Export your data
   Open the Dataset tab of the run and export to JSON or CSV. Each item corresponds to one input hashtag with the fields listed above.

Pro Tip: Schedule this actor on Apify, or consume the dataset programmatically via Apify API to automate hashtag research workflows.

Use cases

Use case	Description
Marketing campaigns + hashtag expansion	Identify related and co-occurring hashtags, grouped by frequency, to expand reach and test new targeting clusters.
Influencer content planning	Balance “frequent” and “average/rare” tags to improve discoverability while avoiding overly competitive terms.
Brand monitoring & benchmarking	Track product- or brand-related hashtags and evaluate their relative difficulty and activity over time.
Data analysis & research	Build datasets for trend analysis and modeling using postsCount, postsPerDay, and categorized related tags.
Social media operations	Standardize hashtag lists and produce JSON/CSV exports for downstream scheduling tools.
Developer pipelines (API)	Integrate Apify dataset outputs into ETL, dashboards, or analytics stacks for ongoing hashtag intelligence.

Why choose Instagram Related Hashtag Stats Scraper?

This actor is engineered for precision, automation, and reliability in hashtag intelligence—without brittle browser automation.

• 🎯 Accurate, structured outputs with stable schema
• 🚀 Scalable batching with delay control for rate-limit safety
• 🧩 Developer-friendly: clean JSON schema and Apify dataset integration
• 🛡️ Proxy fallback (no proxy → datacenter → residential) with sticky-mode stability
• 🔁 Resilient session/doc_id acquisition with multiple fallbacks
• 💸 Efficient automation vs. manual research or unstable extensions
• ✅ Public-data only: designed for ethical, compliant use

In short, it’s a production-ready alternative to manual research and fragile tools, delivering consistent, automation-friendly results.

Is it legal / ethical to use Instagram Related Hashtag Stats Scraper?

Yes—when used responsibly. This actor targets publicly available hashtag search information and does not access private profiles or personal data.

Guidelines for compliant use:

• Collect only public hashtag data and related search results.
• Respect platform policies and applicable regulations (e.g., GDPR/CCPA).
• Avoid using data for invasive profiling or prohibited purposes.
• Consult your legal team for edge cases or jurisdiction-specific questions.

Input parameters & output format

Example JSON input

{
  "urls_keywords": ["fitness", "love", "https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/travel/"],
  "sort_order": "relevance",
  "max_comments": 10,
  "proxy_configuration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  },
  "delay_between_requests": 2
}

Parameters

Field	Type	Description	Default	Required
urls_keywords	array (stringList)	List of hashtags, URLs, or keywords to scrape	["fitness","love","travel"]	Yes
sort_order	string (enum: relevance, recent, top)	How to sort the results	"relevance"	No
max_comments	integer (1–1000)	Maximum number of comments to analyze (not used in hashtag scraping)	10	No
proxy_configuration	object (editor: proxy)	Select proxies to be used by your crawler	None (UI prefill: {"useApifyProxy": false})	No
delay_between_requests	integer (1–10)	Delay in seconds between requests to avoid rate limiting	2	No

Notes:

• The actor accepts plain words, “#hashtag”, or Instagram hashtag URLs in urls_keywords.
• sort_order and max_comments are present in the schema but are not used in the hashtag scraping logic.

Example JSON output

A successful item (one per input hashtag):

{
  "name": "love",
  "postsCount": 2147483647,
  "url": "https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/love",
  "id": "love",
  "posts": "2.15 B",
  "postsPerDay": "588.35 K",
  "difficulty": "very_high",
  "related": [
    { "hash": "#loveyourself", "info": "129M posts" },
    { "hash": "#loveyou", "info": "81.1M posts" },
    { "hash": "#loveislove", "info": "78M posts" },
    { "hash": "#lovely", "info": "76.8M posts" },
    { "hash": "#lovehim", "info": "41.3M posts" }
    ],
  "frequent": [
    { "hash": "#loveyourself", "info": "129M posts" },
    { "hash": "#loveyou", "info": "81.1M posts" },
    { "hash": "#loveislove", "info": "78M posts" },
    { "hash": "#lovely", "info": "76.8M posts" },
    { "hash": "#lovehim", "info": "41.3M posts" }
  ],
  "average": [
    { "hash": "#myloves", "info": "8.2M posts" },
    { "hash": "#cricketlover", "info": "7.9M posts" },
    { "hash": "#jewelrylover", "info": "7.7M posts" },
    { "hash": "#instalovers", "info": "7.6M posts" },
    { "hash": "#sareelovers", "info": "7.5M posts" }
  ],
  "rare": [
    { "hash": "#nailslove", "info": "5.7M posts" },
    { "hash": "#tealover", "info": "5.5M posts" },
    { "hash": "#lovemusic", "info": "5.5M posts" },
    { "hash": "#sareelover", "info": "5.4M posts" },
    { "hash": "#pitbulllove", "info": "5.4M posts" }
  ],
  "relatedFrequent": [
    { "hash": "#loveyourself", "info": "129M posts" },
    { "hash": "#loveyou", "info": "81.1M posts" },
    { "hash": "#loveislove", "info": "78M posts" },
    { "hash": "#lovely", "info": "76.8M posts" },
    { "hash": "#lovehim", "info": "41.3M posts" }
  ],
  "relatedAverage": [
    { "hash": "#myloves", "info": "8.2M posts" },
    { "hash": "#cricketlover", "info": "7.9M posts" },
    { "hash": "#jewelrylover", "info": "7.7M posts" },
    { "hash": "#instalovers", "info": "7.6M posts" },
    { "hash": "#sareelovers", "info": "7.5M posts" }
  ],
  "relatedRare": [
    { "hash": "#nailslove", "info": "5.7M posts" },
    { "hash": "#tealover", "info": "5.5M posts" },
    { "hash": "#lovemusic", "info": "5.5M posts" },
    { "hash": "#sareelover", "info": "5.4M posts" },
    { "hash": "#pitbulllove", "info": "5.4M posts" }
  ]
}

If a hashtag cannot be fetched, the item includes an error field and empty arrays:

{
  "name": "unknown_tag",
  "postsCount": 0,
  "url": "https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/unknown_tag",
  "id": "unknown_tag",
  "posts": "0",
  "postsPerDay": "0",
  "difficulty": "",
  "related": [],
  "frequent": [],
  "average": [],
  "rare": [],
  "relatedFrequent": [],
  "relatedAverage": [],
  "relatedRare": [],
  "error": "Failed to fetch data"
}

FAQ

Do I need to log in to Instagram to use this actor?

No. The actor extracts necessary session tokens from publicly accessible pages and uses Instagram’s GraphQL endpoints to query hashtag search results without logging into an account.

What fields does the scraper return?

It returns name, id, url, postsCount, posts, postsPerDay, difficulty, and multiple arrays of related hashtags (related, frequent, average, rare plus relatedFrequent, relatedAverage, relatedRare). An error field is included only if a hashtag fails to process.

Can I scrape multiple hashtags in one run?

Yes. Provide a list in urls_keywords and the actor will process each hashtag sequentially, applying any delay_between_requests you set to reduce rate limiting.

What input formats are supported?

You can pass plain keywords (e.g., "fitness"), hashtags with a leading "#", or full Instagram hashtag URLs like "https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/travel/". The actor normalizes them automatically.

How do proxies work here?

You can configure proxy_configuration in the input. Additionally, the actor implements a built-in fallback strategy: it tries without a proxy first, then datacenter, and finally residential (with retries). If residential works, it remains in sticky mode for the rest of the run.

How accurate is postsPerDay?

postsPerDay is a rough estimate derived from postsCount over an assumed ~10-year period and formatted for readability. Treat it as a directional signal rather than an exact metric.

Can I control rate limiting?

Yes. Use delay_between_requests to set a delay (in seconds) between hashtag requests. This helps reduce the chance of throttling and improves stability.

How do I export the results?

Open the run’s Dataset on Apify and export to JSON or CSV. You can also access the dataset programmatically via the Apify API.

Final thoughts

Instagram Related Hashtag Stats Scraper is built for scalable, structured hashtag intelligence. It delivers categorized related hashtags, posting velocity estimates, and difficulty tiers—exported as clean JSON/CSV—for marketers, creators, analysts, and developers. Configure your inputs, run at scale with proxy-aware stability, and automate data retrieval via the Apify platform and API. Start extracting smarter hashtag insights today. 🚀